About CodeLounge

CodeLounge is the center for software research & development (R&D), part of the Software Institute – USI, Lugano. CodeLounge brings together expertise from academia and industry, with two main goals: (1) push research ideas beyond prototypes, making real products out of them, and (2) carry out applied research in the areas of software development, visualization, evolution, and analytics. The encapsulation of CodeLounge within the Software Institute enables collaborating closely with research groups and fostering interdisciplinary projects.

At CodeLounge, the culture is a pillar, more important than any project we do or technology we adopt. Our culture is based on the following principles:

Focus on the substance

We trust every CodeLounger to take sensible decisions with minimum supervision. We expect and offer a high degree of ownership and consider micro-managing our cryptonite. We acknowledge that not all individuals are productive in the same way, so we strive for maximum flexibility: we don’t really care when or where you work; we care about what you achieve and deliver.

Revisit, revisit, revisit

We are a young reality and we’re trying to combine two significantly different entities: industry and academia. We know that we won’t get everything right from day one and we are aware that what works today, might not work tomorrow. This is why we continuously revisit our processes and decisions. Feedback at all levels is welcomed and encouraged.

Openness & transparency

We believe that everyone could and should actively contribute to the decision-making process that in the long run defines the future and essence of CodeLounge. For this to happen everyone has access to information and no decision is taken without sharing the supporting motivation. We also expect CodeLoungers to be open to feedback and different points of view.

Space for experimenting

We are convinced that creativity requires adequate room to yield fruitful returns and foster innovation, and this room is not always available in everyday projects. At CodeLounge we introduced “slack weeks” to concretely invest in our creativity because we believe in its long-term high return: on designated weeks, CodeLoungers work on side projects and learn new approaches and technologies.

Make it work, make it right, make it fun

Our jobs take a significant portion of our lives (in terms of time), so if there is no fun in our jobs a significant portion of our lives is not fun, and obviously, nobody wants that. At CodeLounge we make sure that fun is always part of the equation: the “source” of fun is very personal and can range from learning a new library/technology to solve a particular problem (even if that will take a bit longer than reusing a known one), to organizing PlayStation tournaments.